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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Knight said another fingerprint was found on a piece of broken glass but was never tested. “They also found a fingerprint that was probably useable, that they were going to go ahead and put into their system and see if it matched. It didn’t match Sneed. It didn’t match Glossip. It didn’t match Van Treese. They didn’t run it against anybody else,” Knight said. “That fingerprint is still there. We requested it be run. We’ve never heard anything back on whether or not anybody would run it. I don’t know if the fingerprint is a person we are looking for at this point in time.”
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GIST: "Representative Kevin McDugle, R- Broken Arrow, a supporter of the death penalty, held a press conference Wednesday discussing death row inmate Richard Glossip's case.
The lawmaker has joined 33 other lawmakers saying an independent investigation should be done for Glossip's conviction.
Glossip was convicted of ordering the 1997 beating death of motel owner Barry Van Treese in Oklahoma City in what prosecutors said was a murder-for-hire.
State Rep. Kevin McDugle says he believes new evidence suggests the now 58-year-old Glossip may be innocent.
The man who admitted beating Van Treese to death, Justin Sneed, received a life sentence and testified against Glossip during the original trial.
In a letter to the Gov. and Pardon and Parole Board Executive Director, McDugle said, “based on newly evidence, it appears Mr. Glossip may be innocent of this crime.”
“We do not approach this request lightly. We appreciate how difficult decisions like this are and know how seriously you take them. Many of those who have signed this letter support the death penalty but, as such, we have a moral obligation to make sure the State of Oklahoma never executes a person for a crime he did not commit,” the letter said.
Based on new evidence, Glossip’s legal team suggests Sneed may have had an accomplice the night of the murder and believe a slew of things were not done during the police investigation.
“The accomplice was never identified or located. What did the police know that night? Don Knight said, Glossip’s attorney. “The police... from what we can tell, failed to adequately investigate this case in any way shape or form.”
Knight said his team interviewed 190 people over the past six years while investigating the case and now have 29 affidavits of witnesses prepared to testify.
Knight said other evidence found reveals police found two sets of clothing in the motel’s laundry room, in which Sneed said he wore both.
Knight said evidence shows two weapons were also found: a baseball bat and a knife. He said police reported Sneed used both to murder Van Treese.
“I don’t know how that happened, but I do know that the police never checked it out,” Knight said.
When in reality, all he had to do was stick it in his car, 100% of the cash, and drive off with it," McDugle said.
Glossip's attorney, Don Knight, said evidence shows Sneed may have had an accomplice who was never identified or located. He said evidence found two sets of clothing that Sneed claimed he wore that night. Knight said two weapons were also found: a baseball bat & knife.
He went onto say there is no evidence that suggests Glossip was in the room at the time of the murder and the fingerprints found were Sneeds.
Knight said another fingerprint was found on a piece of broken glass but was never tested.
“They also found a fingerprint that was probably useable, that they were going to go ahead and put into their system and see if it matched. It didn’t match Sneed. It didn’t match Glossip. It didn’t match Van Treese. They didn’t run it against anybody else,” Knight said. “That fingerprint is still there. We requested it be run. We’ve never heard anything back on whether or not anybody would run it. I don’t know if the fingerprint is a person we are looking for at this point in time.”
Knight also discussed information provided by a witness detailing information on the case and what happened that night based on what Sneed told him.
Knight said the witness was incarcerated in the Oklahoma County Jail in 1997 and lived in the same wing as Sneed.
Knight said the witness saw Sneed on a daily basis and reported that Sneed told him he killed Van Treese.
The witness reported to Knight that Sneed had a girlfriend at the time who allegedly planned to rob Van Treese.
“He told me their robbery scheme fell apart because Van Treese didn’t go along with it. He either fought back or did something else and messed up the plan. Sneed said things just went really wrong,” the witness told Knight. “I remember Sneed told me that when the murder took place, his girlfriend was in the room. Sneed told me he then got the money from Van Treese’s car, but he didn’t get all the money that he thought was there,” the witness told Knight.
Knight said the information about the money is critical.
“He (the witness) also wrote that Sneed sometimes commented that he couldn’t believe he killed a man for so little money,” Knight said.
Knight said Sneed ended up with about $4,000. More than $23,000 was in Van Treese’s car the night of the murder.
Knight went onto say many witnesses talked about Sneed’s meth addiction.
“That was not something that was really apart of the first two trials in his case. The government tried to make it seem like he was an occasional user of methamphetamine,” Knight said. “That’s a critical part of this case because so was his girlfriend according to the witnesses we have. He and his girlfriend were constantly looking for money and they knew Barry Van Treese had money.”
Knight said the actions Sneed took was because he was looking for money to fuel their addiction.
Glossip was a manager at the motel Van Treese owned.
“They want us to believe that Richard Glossip, who controlled every bit of the cash coming into hotel they want us to believe that it was better for him to hand that cash to the owner so that he could coordinate a murder on that owner and get half of that cash,” McDugle said. “When in reality, all he had to do was stick it in his car, 100% of the cash, and drive off with it. It’s one of the things that keeps lingering in my mind is why would anyone coordinate a murder so they could get half the money that they had in their hand earlier in the day.”
McDugle went onto say during the news conference Wednesday that one of the only reasons that put Glossip in jail was that Sneed accused Glossip of coordinating the plan.
“What did he (Sneed) get out of it? He no longer gets death row, he gets life in prison while Richard Glossip gets death row,” McDugle said.
In McDugle’s letter to the Gov. & Pardon and Parole Board also stated:
“Mr. Glossip’s lawyers have uncovered new evidence and have agreed to turn it over to an independent investigator. We now request that all information held by the District Attorney’s office, or any police or law enforcement agency that investigated this case, also be turned over to an independent attorney or investigative agency chosen by you to look deeply into the case and issue a report to the Pardon and Parole Board before any new execution date is set for Mr. Glossip. The decision that the Pardon and Parole Board must make in recommending Clemency, and your decision as Governor to grant or deny it, should be made based on thorough and complete information which this in-depth review will provide. This is the only way the cloud of doubt surrounding Mr. Glossip’s case can be lifted, and we can be confident that justice is done—one way or the other.”
“If we're going to sentence someone to capital punishment we have a moral obligation to do everything we can to make sure that we're not sending an innocent man to death,” Rep.Mickey Dollens said.
McDugle said if Glossip were to be executed before a full review of the new evidence, Oklahoma risks killing an innocent man.
The letter now sits on the governor’s desk for consideration.
Moving forward, Glossip’s legal team said if the investigation request is approved, the Pardon and Parole Board could recommend clemency for Glossip, in which the governor could grant.
If granted, Knight said it could take Glossip off death row.
“What we hope for here is a good independent investigation and a report,” Knight said. “Glossip is remarkably optimistic and hopeful for this independent investigation.""
https://okcfox.com/news/local/pro-death-penalty-reps-seek-investigation-into-death-row-inmate-richard-glossips-conviction
